Job Placement Fraud by Consultancy: How to Recover Money and File a Criminal Case in India

One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.

Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.

Rohan Gupta, a 30-year-old professional from Lucknow, had left his previous employer in October 2024 after months of workplace politics and mounting mental stress. A close friend of his, based in Bhopal, suggested he try a job placement consultancy — one that the friend and another acquaintance vouched for with complete confidence. They assured Rohan the consultancy was legitimate. Since Rohan couldn't visit Bhopal personally to verify, he trusted their word.

The consultancy operator asked for roughly Rs. 50,000 upfront and an additional Rs. 3.2 lakh after receiving an offer letter. Rohan, not having the full amount, paid approximately Rs. 2.5 lakh in the first week of November 2024. He did join a company arranged by the consultancy, but things felt off immediately — almost no work, a suspicious company setup. The company he had been placed with, which appeared to have over 200 employees on paper, turned out to be a front. Its CEO was later arrested following complaints from more than 70 individuals.

The consultancy operator kept promising a replacement placement. First by February 2025, then "one more week," then by mid-March 2025. Eventually, she stopped answering calls. She only picked up when Rohan called from an unknown number. He had call recordings where she explicitly accepted responsibility and promised to return the money before 18 March 2025. Two or three other victims were in the same position. One of them, based in Jaipur, had received a cheque that was worthless due to insufficient funds.

Rohan approached Advocate Sudhir Rao after his own attempts — including repeated calls, WhatsApp messages, and relying on the referring friend to mediate — had yielded nothing. The matter was handled with a focused criminal strategy, combining a formal complaint, evidence of the recorded admission, and coordinated steps with other victims. This approach produced results that Rohan's earlier unassisted efforts had not.

Advice in Such Cases

Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation to come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.

Preserve all evidence immediately. Don't delete a single WhatsApp message, call log, payment receipt, or bank transfer record. Back everything up to cloud storage right now. Evidence lost early in the process can't be recovered later, and that gap will hurt your case.

Act without delay. Every week you wait gives the fraudster time to move assets, disappear, or create a paper trail that complicates your complaint. The call recording where the operator admitted liability is gold — but it needs to be submitted through the right procedural channel to be admissible.

Coordinate with other victims. If others have been defrauded by the same consultancy, a joint complaint carries significantly more weight before police and before a Magistrate. It also establishes a pattern of cheating, which is relevant under Section 318(4) BNS.

And here's the thing — this category of case involves procedural and evidentiary nuances that a general practitioner may not be fully familiar with. Job placement fraud with multiple victims, advance fee collection, deliberate non-performance. Advocates who regularly handle such criminal fraud matters understand how to document the cheating element, how to link co-conspirators, and how to use victim coordination effectively. That experience tends to make a measurable difference in how quickly a case moves.

Applicable Sections of Law

This is a criminal matter. The applicable provisions are under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS):

• Section 318 BNS (Cheating): Covers dishonest inducement to deliver property or money. The consultancy's false guarantees and deliberate non-performance squarely attract this section. Where cheating involves multiple victims or a systematic scheme, Section 318(4) BNS applies with enhanced punishment.
• Section 319 BNS (Cheating by personation): Applicable if the consultancy misrepresented affiliations with legitimate companies or fabricated company credentials.
• Section 61 BNS (Criminal conspiracy): Where the consultancy operator, the referring contacts, and the front company acted in concert to defraud victims, criminal conspiracy charges can be added.
• Section 84 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Section 66D IT Act: If any part of the fraud was facilitated through electronic communication, digital payments, or impersonation online, IT Act provisions also apply alongside BNS.

Punishment and Penalties

• Section 318(1) BNS (Basic cheating): Imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both.
• Section 318(4) BNS (Cheating with knowledge of likely harm, or dishonestly inducing delivery of property): Imprisonment up to seven years and fine. This is the provision most relevant here given the money involved.
• Section 61 BNS (Criminal conspiracy): Punishment mirrors the underlying offence — up to seven years imprisonment where the conspiracy is to commit an offence punishable with that term.
• Nature of offence: Cognizable and non-bailable under Section 318(4) BNS. Non-compoundable without court permission. Police can arrest without a warrant once an FIR is registered.

Jurisdiction — Where to File the Case

For a criminal complaint, the FIR should ideally be filed at the police station having territorial jurisdiction over the place where the money was transferred, where the fraud was initiated, or where the accused operates. In practice, if you're in Lucknow and transferred money from a Lucknow bank account, the Lucknow cyber crime police station or the local police station covering your area has jurisdiction. Under Section 175 BNSS, you can also approach the Magistrate directly.

Where the accused is in a different city, Section 202 BNSS allows inquiry through the local police of that area. Now, before you act, get jurisdiction right from the start. Getting it wrong means your complaint gets bounced between stations — and that's exactly the tactic fraudsters rely on to buy time.

What if Police Refuse to File FIR?

Refusal to register an FIR for a cognizable offence is itself a legal violation. Here's what you can do:

• Submit a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police (SP) under Section 173(4) BNSS. The SP is obligated to either direct registration of the FIR or conduct a preliminary inquiry.
• File a private complaint directly before the Judicial Magistrate under Section 175(3) BNSS. The Magistrate can take cognizance and direct the police to register and investigate.
• Approach the High Court by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking a direction to register the FIR — as affirmed in Lalita Kumari v. Government of UP, 2014, where the Supreme Court held that registration of FIR is mandatory for cognizable offences.
• File a complaint with the Cyber Crime portal (cybercrime.gov.in) if any part of the fraud occurred through online platforms or digital payment channels.

Rights of the Accused

If you're on the other side — or if someone in your circle is named as an accused — these rights apply under the Constitution and BNSS:

• Right against self-incrimination: Under Article 20(3) of the Constitution, no accused can be compelled to be a witness against themselves.
• Right to legal representation: Article 22(1) guarantees the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of one's choice from the moment of arrest.
• Production before Magistrate within 24 hours: Under Section 57 BNSS, an arrested person must be produced before the nearest Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, excluding travel time.
• Right to know grounds of arrest: Under Section 47 BNSS, the arresting officer must inform the accused of the full particulars of the offence.
• Right to a copy of the FIR: Under Section 173(2) BNSS, the FIR copy must be supplied to the accused free of cost.

Bail Provisions

Section 318(4) BNS is non-bailable. Bail is therefore a matter of judicial discretion, not a right.

• Regular bail can be sought under Section 480 or Section 483 BNSS before the Magistrate or Sessions Court after arrest.
• Anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS can be sought before the Sessions Court or High Court before arrest, provided there's reasonable apprehension of arrest.
• Typical bail conditions include surrendering of passport, regular appearance before the investigating officer, and a personal bond with surety.
• In cases involving multiple victims and large sums, courts tend to be cautious about bail. A well-argued bail application supported by financial restitution offers, though not a guarantee, can sometimes assist the court in considering terms.

Quashing of FIR / Case

The accused may attempt to get the FIR quashed. But the law differs considerably from what most accused persons expect in cases like this:

• The High Court has inherent powers under Section 528 BNSS to quash an FIR where no prima facie offence is disclosed, or where continuation of proceedings is an abuse of process.
• But where there's a clear paper trail — payment receipts, call recordings of admission, multiple victim accounts — quashing applications are unlikely to succeed at the threshold stage.
• As the Supreme Court held in State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992, quashing is reserved for clear cases of no offence; a factual dispute about cheating must go to trial.
• If the accused returns the money and victims consent, the court may consider compounding — but Section 318(4) BNS is not straightforwardly compoundable without the court's approval.

If You Are the Victim

• File an FIR immediately at the nearest police station or the cyber crime police station. Don't wait for the fraudster to "settle" voluntarily — that window rarely arrives.
• Preserve all payment records: bank transfer screenshots, UPI transaction IDs, NEFT receipts. These establish the exact amount and the date of transfer.
• Keep all communications — WhatsApp chats, emails, call recordings. A recorded admission of liability, like the one in this case, can significantly strengthen the prosecution.
• Connect with other victims. A complaint by three or four victims together, with consistent facts, establishes the pattern of cheating needed for Section 318(4) BNS.
• Don't sign any agreement the accused offers saying "matter settled" unless your advocate has reviewed it and the full money has actually reached your account.

Documents You Must Keep Ready

• Aadhaar card and PAN card (identity proof)
• Bank account statements showing each transfer to the accused
• UPI or NEFT transaction receipts with transaction IDs
• WhatsApp chat screenshots (backed up to email or Google Drive)
• Call recordings of conversations, especially admissions of liability
• Any written agreement, receipt, or acknowledgement given by the consultancy
• Offer letter or joining documents from the fraudulent company, if any
• Contact details and statements of other victims willing to support the complaint

What Evidence Is Required?

• Primary evidence of payment: Bank statements, UPI records, and NEFT confirmations showing money transferred to the accused's account or phone number.
• Digital communications: WhatsApp messages and emails in which false promises were made — these establish the fraudulent inducement element under Section 318 BNS.
• Call recordings: Audio recordings where the accused acknowledged receiving money and promised repayment are admissible as electronic evidence under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA).
• Victim statements: Consistent accounts from multiple victims corroborate the pattern of systematic cheating.
• Company verification records: MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) search results showing the fraudulent company's actual registration status or lack thereof.
• Social media and online presence: Screenshots of the consultancy's website or advertisements making false claims.

How the Police Behave in Such Cases

Be prepared for some friction. Police stations are often reluctant to register FIRs in cheating cases when the accused is in another city, sometimes citing jurisdiction disputes. They may suggest it's a "civil matter." Make no mistake — deliberate inducement to pay money on false pretences is a criminal offence, not a civil dispute. Frankly, cyber crime cells tend to be more receptive when digital payments are involved. Going in with a written complaint, supported by documentary evidence and a reference to Lalita Kumari v. Government of UP, 2014, signals that you know your rights. That changes the conversation.

Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India

Facing a similar matter? Speak to a Delhi criminal defence lawyer — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.